Vinyl pressing

chille01 · September 27, 2011, 04:27:19 PM

Hey all,

We're going to be pressing vinyl for the first time soon, and just starting to do some research. Part of that research will be the picking of the collective brain here. So really, anything you can tell me from your own experience would be appreciated. Good pressing plants, not good pressing plants, pitfalls and hidden costs to look out for, etc. etc. etc. Anyone ever done it?

Cheers!

Hemisaurus · September 27, 2011, 05:40:19 PM

You got any special needs? I had a buddy wanted them pressed in the US, from analog masters, which cut down his options a bit.

I forget who we did a bunch of punk split 7's with, I can look it up.

chille01 · September 27, 2011, 07:01:42 PM

No special needs, just exploring options. Cost and quality are the two most important things. We'll pay a little more for a product we can be proud of, but we still want to maximize our limited resources.

the diddler · September 27, 2011, 07:32:08 PM

pirates press does almost anything you can think of- good quality and communication, fast turnaround times, definitely not cheap. all this as of a couple years ago, but i haven't heard that anything's changed with them

Hemisaurus · September 27, 2011, 08:20:10 PM

Man I had to reactivate a three years dead myspace account to get this but:

http://www.urpressing.com/

They have online quote generators, do 33rpm 7", coloured vinyl, etc. etc. Jason used them for a bunch of his releases.

http://gottagrooverecords.com/

No nothing about them, they started getting in touch with us when we did vinyl, we stayed with UR.

Hemisaurus · September 27, 2011, 08:29:13 PM

Gotta Groove had some groovy stuff on their site, advice wise

Quote
IMPORTANT VINYL MASTERS CONSIDERATIONS

For the very best sound result, we highly recommend that you have your audio mastered specifically for vinyl by an engineer who is familiar with the vinyl format.

If you are providing your audio master in a digital form, we prefer either 24 bit wav files (if uploaded via our website) or a CD containing either wav files or (at the least) redbook format audio. A great rule of thumb is to put your loudest, heaviest tracks at the beginning of each side, and put your less dynamic and less high-frequency driven tracks at the end of each side (so, unlike with CDs, the order of your songs on the record is very important).
OTHER GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

1. Keep your bass centered (Kick, Bass) if you have toms, be extremely careful of hard panning (can cause skipping/skating issues).
2. Keep your cymbals under control don't mix them too loud or too bright.
3. Make sure all of your vocals are De-essed properly

These three guidelines alone will help you through about 95 percent of the process.

With acoustic oriented projects, we have found that the less limiting you use on the master, the better. Our biggest suggestion with this kind of music is to mix and masters at levels that allow the music to sound natural and dynamic.

The lacquer cutter can turn the overall level up or down going to the cutting lathe, so overall volume is not really a major consideration when prepping masters for us; and heavy limiting really causes some distortion issues.

In terms of rolling off Bass and treble frequencies, don't go too crazy on that end. Our lacquer cutter's setup contains the needed EQ to do that job. Just mix according to the guidelines of proper mixing in general and you will be fine.

Finally, we HIGHLY recommend that you purchase test lacquer cut samples with every order. They are a very low price, and we send them to you via email as mp3's for convenience. They serve as an excellent preview of what your test pressings will sound like; and therefore can catch any mastering issues before making it all the way to test pressings (saving you a huge portion of time and expense).

For more specific questions, or if you need more info on any of the suggestions listed above, please contact our lacquer engineer, Clint Holley, at clint@gottagrooverecords.com.

Also, please visit our friends at Chicago Mastering and Electric Western for a lot of great insight on best practices for vinyl mastering.

chille01 · September 27, 2011, 08:50:01 PM

Thanks guys! I'd already dug up Pirates Press and United, but the other one is new to me. I'll look into them. What did you guys do for mastering? Anything special?

Hemisaurus · September 27, 2011, 09:21:11 PM

Nothing atall, it was punk

Others may have better suggestions

Chovie D · September 28, 2011, 02:59:18 PM

The independent labels I know who still press vinyl use either United in Gnashville or GZ in Czechloslowahtever. Apparently the Czech place has the best thickest vinyl and is reasonably priced tho I cannot imagine how since it seems like the shipping costs back to the US and customs alone would be prohibitive.

UNited does the tricolor ones (thanks to Jack White).

Amrep Records for example uses United. my friend who runs a comedy record label uses the czech place.

A while back I tried to do three runs of limited edition 7 inch handcut vinyl's but the indie shitheads who ran that operation botched the records and every record skipped. They were called Single Peice Slate and as best as I can tell have gone out of business...rightfully so.

If I were to try to do it again, I would go with a reputable company known for quality and not try to save $100 on the job. Its worth it for quality assurance...so I'd go with United. plus that tri color vinly is pretty bitchin.
Melvins/JSBX 7 inch

mortlock · September 28, 2011, 11:29:12 PM

i pressed a few things at bill smith custom records in california..a little more expensive but the quality was excellent and the service was friendly and very accurate..i had color vinyl done and a one sided 7" pressed as well. the one sided record is still avail. bmail me if you want one..it one of my bands..hades mining co.

chille01 · September 29, 2011, 12:45:48 AM

I was wondering what the tri-colored option was all about. Pretty damn cool, actually!

the diddler · September 29, 2011, 06:47:00 AM

As far as mastering, I'm pretty sure we used Chicago for the vinyl and had Tony Reed do the digital version. I think at PPress, the option to add download cards to 1000 records was something like $100- seemed worth it.

Woody · September 29, 2011, 12:02:42 PM

Brooklyn phono also has a good reputation. They only press vinyl and don't print covers the way Pirates Press and Gotta Groove do.

http://brooklynphono.com

Lumpy · September 29, 2011, 01:43:11 PM

Quote from: Woody on September 29, 2011, 12:02:42 PM
Brooklyn phono also has a good reputation. They only press vinyl and don't print covers the way Pirates Press and Gotta Groove do.

http://brooklynphono.com

That looks dope (as the kids like to say). If you need to press a lot, it can be cost effective (seems like set up fees are the biggest bite).